has everybody picked a moving buddy?

Okay. It's kind of completely not finished at the new place, but I'm moving anyway. No more blogspot in my name! Please join me at www.hobbsandbean.com.

If you are one of the seventy-seven people subscribed to hobbsandbean, please update your feed. But seriously, seventy-seven? There is no way that is right. I counted up everyone I could think of and I got six. I think feedburner is broken. And to be completely honest, I *think* you have to update your feed, but I'm not sure. I don't understand any of that stuff and the ever brilliant skh did it all for me. I just know that that really is the right feed. Cause he said so.

If you come on over to the new fancy site, you'll get to finally see my six-day-late weigh-in! I know you've been waiting for that. I've also got some completed (yes, that's right, completed) crafty things to show off. But that won't be till tomorrow. Or sometime in November.

Kthxbai.

NB: I lost the comments on my last few posts when we moved...please note the importance of having a good moving buddy. Sorry about that!

160.5 and other pinteresting news

So, I know I said I'd be updating at the end of the two weeks, but I think the added pressure accountability will help me keep moving along. Besides, the original plan was for me to have a weekly weigh in until I get wherever it is I'm going. I lost three pounds the first week, and I'm very thankful and pleased. The first couple of days were brutal, but I think I'm decently adjusted to the plan at this point. I do really like the structure and am finding that I'm thinking about food a whole lot less than I was, which is a very good thing.

In unrelated news, I am loving Pinterest. It's great. You can find me here. Pin awesome things for me to admire. skh and I were talking about ladies and social interaction and have noticed that just like in real life, it's generally better for us feminas to have something to do while we chat. Keeps our hands busy and our mouths less likely to go places it shouldn't. Ravelry totally wins in this respect for social media for me, but it's quite yarn specific and Pinterest is doing pretty well in my book. It might be a horrible idea if you struggle with envy, but I love having a place to visually file all the little bits and bobs floating around in my "someday/maybe" list and my bookmarks. And there are lots of people there with really great collections of beautiful things to peruse and be inspired by.

easter happened

And I have pictures.



Click on that picture to see a bunch more.

Kit's shrug didn't make it in time. It did get done, but not for Easter. She was very sad. And cold.

Not really. Here she is modeling her shrug later.



Aren't you impressed that I got an American Girl doll to stand in the grass by herself? I was. Calvin was watching and laughed hysterically every time she fell over.

I also didn't get any hair things done for the girls, and both of the men's ties didn't get made either. Oh well. Who cares about things like that when this is your pack of kids?!?

163.5

There, I said it.

Okay, for any of you who are here for cute children, here you go.



Now go ahead and skip this post. Not about cute children. Sort of maybe caused by some of the cute children, but not about them.

I weigh one hundred, sixty-three and a half pounds and it's time to do something about it.

Okay, this is where I typed a bunch of disclaimers. And then I deleted them. And then typed them again. Including this picture of my husband who still registers in some "overweight" categories based on his height.


by Lukas VanDyke

Not exactly overweight.

Then I deleted them again. I'm leaving them deleted. Just go with that's how much I weigh and for me to be in good physical shape to give myself to my family effectively, I need to lose some weight.

I'm not sure how much I need to lose. I'm thinking somewhere between 20 and 30 pounds. And for those wondering, no, I am not basing this on my pre-baby athletic self. I am, however, basing this on my pre-two-rounds-of-hyperemesis self, so it still may not be realistic. I guess we'll see.


Step One.

Two weeks of relatively intense (for me) focus on getting rolling down the weight loss hill. I'm bodybugging, staying active and (again, for me) on a tight food plan. A smoothie for breakfast, a Lean Cuisine for lunch and dinner and approved snacks up to 1500 calories. I'm hoping to lose four pounds in these two weeks, putting me under 160. Then I will blog the results, reevaluate with my very wise husband and go from there. Oh, and I do get one freebie meal per week. Sadly, I started this yesterday and used my weekly freebie yesterday on my date night with skh. But today I was very good. And my freebie was yummy. Olive Garden.

Alright, there it is. My extremely silly post about how much I weigh. Thanks for reading! Feel free to encourage or kick me if I need it.

easter sweatshop

Femina (love it over there) is hosting a little Easter blog party, and check it out...I'm participating! This will make four entire posts for this year. Maybe this will develop into a pattern! Maybe not.

Speaking of patterns, oddly enough I have actually blogged two other Easter related posts in previous years. Any sort of pattern on a blog that gets updated twice a year is strange, really. Remember tiny(ish) Calvin who hated his tie? And last year's skirts?

Anyway, my original Easter blogging plan was to post pictures of the creations once they were finished, but this blog party sounded like fun, so here I am, taking a break from endless knitting to give a few shots of the WIPs ("works in progress" for you non-Ravelry-ers).

First up, THE DRESSES.



You may wonder how, exactly, it is that all the dresses are actually completed sewing-wise. It is not 2am on Easter morning, you know. Well, for some reason I thought Easter was at the end of March...no idea why, but I'm glad I did, cause this is the first sewing project I've ever had done really early. I likey. But that had it's own drawbacks...it allowed time for me to decide they needed embroidery. And then decide that the Target sweaters I bought weren't nearly as cute as hand knit shrugs. And of course we need a matching tie for Cal. And matching hair things. And so it goes.

(Quick question about the dresses...please weigh in on this vastly important matter. Have I crossed the cute matching line into embarrassing territory? It's cute to me, but is this weird mommy behavior? Hey, I should figure out how to add a poll or something. Back to the post now.)


Here is Cal's tie. And the girls' hair things.



Just a little left to do there.


And the shrugs? Here's Keelah modeling hers.



And yes, that's probably dangerous.

For any interested parties, the pattern for the dresses can be found and purchased here (proceeds go to the designer's family's adoption!), the shrug pattern is here (or on Ravelry - Something Beautiful Shrug) and the tie pattern is over here. And big thanks to Ginger and Sage for teaching Maggie and I how to embroider. Every single time I start embroidering I can hear Mr. Bingley saying "You all paint tables, and play the piano, and embroider cushions! I never heard of lady but people say she is accomplished." It makes me laugh. If I turned these dresses into cushions, I'd be accomplished now.

One last thing. Just so you know that I do have the ability to say no, when I stumbled upon these last night, I decided to save them for next year instead of staying up all hours of the night to make fifty gazillion of them for Easter baskets.



Besides, they totally would have ended up in Hallie's mouth.


Alright, thanks for stopping by! See you after Easter!

chicken feet

Yep, chicken feet.

first braids, first bike and...i'm out of alliteration

Not amazing, but it's something. Three box braids to be precise.




Mr. Brian brought over his motorcycle and let Cal sit on it. Later that week Mr. Brian let Cal play with his sword from the Marines. Calvin thinks Mr. Brian is just a little awesome.




Hallie accessorized herself. We don't normally keep ear-warmers on our kids when they are inside.

something

skh says I need to get over how many things I'm not blogging and just post something. So here is something. Two somethings, actually.

Hallie is potty trained. Mostly. Yay! I took a couple of pictures of the trainee.



By the way, on a mothering note...it adds an exciting and mind-challenging twist to potty training when your subject doesn't speak any recognizable language. The listed definitions for "Mo' mo' mo'" in the Hallie dictionary are getting out of control, and this presents a problem when one of meanings is a very urgent "I need to be put on the potty NOW, immediately, post haste, hurry hurry hurry, can't go fast enough". We're working very diligently on "peeeeeeepeeeeeee" as her next word, but so far it sounds a lot like "Boppa".

Potty princess has a pretty cute little sister. Keekster freakster is 5 months old. Actually, she's almost 6 months old, but we'll pretend that's not true.




You know, every time I post something, I think about how much I enjoy blogging. I really do. Too bad that I can't keep any thoughts in my head for longer than 3 minutes.

i can't wait any longer

We're not ready to really post anything yet, but I can't stop myself from putting this picture up before I go to bed. She's just too cute. Love her so much my head might pop off.

the costs we've been cutting

I'm not sure how I haven't posted this yet, but here's a little something that's been keeping us busy around here.



The fundraiser is next Saturday, May 15th, and I was just saying that I've begun feeling exactly like I did at the end of Calvin's pregnancy. I really, really, really just want to have this baby. Even if it's an ugly baby.

In all seriousness, we are so excited by what God has already done and can't wait to see what He has in store. Our passion for adoption continues to grow and we are thrilled to get to be a part of helping make this a reality for Ben and Katie. Hope to see you all at The Farm!